2015 Redesigned SAT Pre-Test

I've decided to take the redesigned SAT in March. When I tell people I'm doing this, the most frequent response is: why would you want to do that?

My reasons include:

• I took the SAT and ACT my junior year of high school over 15 years ago. Considering that a large part of my work revolves around giving advice and interpretation of these tests, it seems like having more recent exposure could be useful. 
• The exam is being redesigned starting in March of 2016 and I want to take the new test alongside the Class of 2017 to stand in solidarity with them in the face of this new exam
• The College Board has partnered with Khan Academy to give free online preparation to all students. As an adult who has been exposed to the topics on the test 15 years ago but not made use of these particular skills lately, I'm curious to see how much of a difference Khan can make. 
• Much attention is paid to the pressure and anxiety students face when taking standardized tests. I wanted to replicate these conditions for myself and see if that could help me better relate to my students. Doing drills or taking a practice test at home just isn't the same as sitting for the test under real testing conditions. 

I plan to begin my Khan Academy preparation in earnest in January. Before today, the only thing I'd done was take a few of the skills assessments (this helps Khan determine what skills you are strong in and which need improvement). Then, this morning, I sat for my first online practice test. Khan has 4 full length practice tests available online. But each one is only unlocked when you complete the one before it. I figured I should take my first test now before I do any formal prep so that I can get a baseline of where I'm starting.

Caveat: This practice test was completed on a computer. The real test will be on paper. I also skipped ahead in the CR and W sections because I had minutes left and was ready to move on. On a real test, that won't be possible.

Impressions:

• The first Reading section has 65 minutes to complete 52 questions. I completed everything with 26 minutes to spare. I opted not to go back and review and triple check my answers, mainly because I wanted this performance to be purely skills based. I was willing to miss some questions. On the real test, I suspect I won't feel this way. 

• The second section is the Writing and Language section. You have 35 minutes to complete 44 questions. The format used for these questions is not to my liking. There are two different sets of numbers jumbled up in passages -- one referring to the sentence number and one referring to the question number. Talk about confusing. I was able to get it mostly sorted out but for a 16 year old, I think this will be challenging. There just has to be an easier way to get the point across. I finished this section with 9 minutes to spare. This portion sometimes asks the test taker to be a sort of editor - making adjustments and improvements to the text. This is tough because for a person who isn't a strong reader or already struggles with grammar, it is hard to read the full passage with so many small (or sometimes not so small) errors. 

• The third section was the Math section with no calculator. Oh boy. Talk about timing issues. I COMPLETELY ran out of time. Like didn't even make it to the free response questions and was guessing in the last 20 seconds just to get something entered in for the multiple choice. This is definitely going to be my weak spot and will take the most energy for practice. 

• The last section is the Math section with the calculator. It has 38 questions in 55 minutes. I did better on the timing here but still had to do a lot of guessing because I just couldn't remember how to do that math they were asking. 

In the end, I scored a 1330. I got a 600 on the Math and a 730 on the Reading and Writing. I'm pleased with the score. It is higher than I expected it to be. Considering how long it has been since I have done the majority of the math included on the test, I was not expecting to get a 600. I was a pretty strong math student in high school (due to studying, not innate understanding) and last took math in college when I took intermediate Calculus my first semester of my freshman year. I know that my biggest work will be refreshing my memory on the steps needed to complete these math problems. I also, admittedly, have never been strong with mental math and the no calculator portion is going to be an extra large hurdle.

This score is lower than the score I got in high school and higher than the score I got in 8th grade when I took the SAT for CTY. I'm not setting any specific goals in terms of the score I want to get, I'm more just curious about how Khan Academy will impact my score. How much can I teach myself using the online demos and practice questions?

The experiment will continue in 2016 . . . .

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